IPEDS

What is IPEDS?

The Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System
(IPEDS) is a system of interrelated surveys that collect institutional-level
data from all U.S. postsecondary institutions that participate in Title IV federal
financial aid programs (as required by the Higher Education Act of 1965).

Sources and Uses of IPEDS Data

The data reported in IPEDS can come from two sources; either we self-report the data
or it is uploaded by the Colorado Department of Higher Education through a process
that originates with our Student Unit Record Data System (SURDS) files that we submit
each semester.

After data are in IPEDS, they are used for a variety of initiatives including in
the Common Data Set, institutional rankings, college guide books, national studies,
and the annual Data Feedback Report (IPEDS-DFR). The IPEDS-DFR is provided to us
by NCES and is intended to provide context for examining the previous year’s
data. It includes a variety of derived variables that are commonly queried in the
IPEDS data set and compares CSU with our Board of Governors’ peer group.